An Athlete and a Cheerleader
by JuliaBeth
Summary: They weren't an unusual couple. In fact, they were so stereotypical it hurt. But sometimes stereotypes aren't bad, especially when nothing else in your life is normal or plain.


A/N: I own nothing.

A/U: Claire has a sister with is only 10 months younger than her.

************Deals with Teen Sexuality****************

************Teens Behaving like Teens without Supervision***********

* * *

"How bad was it?" Emily Standish asked into the phone. "I mean, it can't be too bad, your dad is letting you talk to me. You know, the little tramp that's going to ruin your wrestling career."

Andy snickered. "He thinks it's funny. How about you? How much trouble did you get into for blowing off half the morning to go shopping with Claire?"

She rolled her eyes. She could tell by his tone that he thought that she and Claire were just being spoiled brats again. "Well, Mom is in the Caribbean and Dad is 'working late' at his assistant's house again, so we can't be in that much trouble. He says he's going to call Vernon tomorrow and Mom just wanted to know what we bought. Tempest said we were rotten little orphans," she said, speaking of the lady who looked after them when their parents were gone, which was most of the time. She'd been their nanny when they were young, but now that they were both sixteen, Claire about to be seventeen, they didn't need a nanny anymore but their parents didn't feel right about leaving them at home alone all the time. "It would have been funny if it wasn't so close to being true."

"Did she call you little pig droppings again?" He laughed.

"No. Mom heard her call Claire that last time she was home and threw a fit," she confessed, sobering. "And it wasn't like we could defend her. I mean, what would we say, 'Oh, she isn't calling us shit. She's making fun of you for being such a bad mother that we're basically Orphan Annies?"

"Oh, I don't know, that might have been interesting to see," he replied, then got quiet. She could hear his dad yelling at him through his bedroom door. "Man, my dad is getting on my last nerve tonight."

"Want to come over?" she asked. She looked at her clock. It was already past nine. "Can you get out?"

"Yeah, I'll sneak out," he said.

"Okay. Tempest is already in her suite for the night. You can stay over if you want," she said.

"See you in ten," he replied before hanging up.

She slid off her bed and brushed her hair and put on some lip gloss. "Hey, Sis?" She went across the hall into Claire's bedroom. She was sitting at her desk, working on her homework. "Andy's coming over, okay?"

"Now?" Claire asked, looking up.

"His dad is being a hard-ass," Emily shrugged.

"And that's what you're wearing?" she asked, giving Em a once over.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Emily asked, looking in Claire's mirror. She was wearing one of Andy's wrestling team t-shirts and a pair of black and white striped tights. "I was getting ready for bed. He's just coming over because his dad is being an asshole."

"He taped a guy's ass together. I think his dad has a right to be pissed," she replied with a laugh. "I mean, why?"

Em shrugged and smiled, ruefully. "I've been trying to figure that out myself. So far, the only answer he has is 'Because I could.'."

Claire shook her head. She looked at her younger sister again. "You look cute enough," she said, finally. "Guys like it when you wear their clothes. It's like a flag on a conquered territory."

"Gross."

"It's true," Claire insisted. "It marks you as his property or something."

"I'm not his property," she rolled her eyes. That sounded like the stupid shit Andy's dad spouted off all the time.

"Yeah?" Claire replied, arching an eyebrow up. "And how many other guys even talk to you when you're walking around in that or in his letter jacket?"

"Whatever. I have to go let him in the gate so it doesn't set off the alarm." She smoothed her shirt down, looking at her reflection in Claire's vanity again. She picked up a bottle and sprayed some of Claire's perfume on her neck.

"Hey," Claire stopped her as she turned to leave. "Okay, so like, as your big sister, I feel like I should at least tell you this. Just because we went and did that thing today, it doesn't mean that you have to have sex with Andy now or anything. Anyway, it takes like a month for the pills to even start working."

"Relax, Sis," she said, her cheeks flushing pink. "I'm not going to have sex with Andy tonight. I just wanted to be prepared in case we ever did. I'm not planning it or anything."

"Yeah, well, it's Andy so I'm almost sure that I don't have to say this, but Tim told me," she said, speaking of their older brother from their dad's first marriage. "So, I'm going to tell you, then my sisterly obligation to this whole thing is done." She held her hands up as if washing them of the issue. She took a deep breath. "Don't let him talk you into something you don't want to do. When you do decide to do it, make sure that it's because it's what you want to do and not just because he wants you to do it."

Emily smiled. Most people thought that Claire was just a shallow, vapid princess, a ditz with a gold card, but when she cared about something, she really cared with all her heart and Claire loved her.

"I will. Thanks for going with me today and thanks for not telling Vernon where we had really been. I'm sorry I got you put in detention."

"It was none of that nosy jerk-off's business," she shrugged. "Don't worry about detention either. Dad will get us out of it."

Emily ran down to the back gate of her parents' property. There was a guard at the front gate of the Standish Estate, but the back gate was unmanned, a situation Claire and Emily quite often took advantage of. She quickly disarmed the security system and stepped out to look down the street. Andrew wasn't there yet.

She'd met him almost two years before on her first day of ninth grade. She'd been struggling to get her locker open when someone suddenly reached over her shoulder and hit the door right beside the latch, then opened the door. She turned to find herself staring into the bluest eyes she'd ever seen.

"That was my locker last year," Andy smiled. "The latch sticks."

"Thank you," she smiled back.

"No problem. You're Claire Standish's sister, aren't you?" He asked.

"Emily." She nodded.

"I thought so. I've seen you around. I'm Andy Clarke," he replied, taking her hand in his. He stared at her for a long moment in which Emily could not think of one non-dweeby thing to say, before smiling at her again and saying, "Well, see you around."

She didn't see him again until that Friday.

"Hey, Emily," he said, stopping by her locker again. "I didn't know you were a cheerleader."

"Yeah," she nodded, pulling at her uniform skirt.

"Guess I'll see you at the game then," he said. Andy was a defensive guard.

"I'll be there."

"You..um.., you want to sit with me on the way there?" he asked, rubbing his neck with one hand and looking at his feet.

"Sure," she smiled knowing that the cheerleaders and football team always rode to away games on the same bus.

On the way up there, Andrew had talked non-stop. He told her about his parents and his three younger brothers. He told her that he liked football but he was way better at wrestling but he didn't like it as much. He already knew Claire, having been in school with her since Jr. High, but she told him about their brother in Chicago.

"So, are your parents going to be at the game?" he asked.

She shook her head. "My mom is in the Bahamas for a girls' week and my dad is working late."

"So you won't have anyone there?"

She shook her head again. "It's not Claire's scene and my parents aren't home, so...," she shrugged. "I'm used to it. Sports aren't really my family's cup of tea."

"That stinks," he said, reaching out to hold her hand. Sometimes he wished that his parents didn't go to every game he had, especially when his Dad started yelling at him in the middle but it was still nice to know they were there.

After the game, Emily wasn't sure if Andy still wanted her around so she had taken a seat with the other freshman cheerleader, Mindy Simpson. When he got on the bus, he stopped beside them and smiled.

"Still with me?" he asked, a questioning look on his face.

Emily looked at Mindy who shrugged and nodded. "I guess I am," she replied, letting him pull her out of the seat and lead her to one in the back. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close as they sat down.

When the lights went out, he leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I really like you. Can I kiss you?"

She nodded and turned her lips to his. That was it. She was gone. They were a couple ever since. No one even questioned it.

Their first real date was to the Homecoming dance that year. Andy had always known that the Standish family was well off. They were probably one of the richest families in the Chicago area but he still wasn't prepared for exactly how rich they were as he pulled up to the Standish estate. It was huge. There was a black wrought iron gate surrounding the property with a manned guard house at the front. He stopped in front of the gate, feeling shabby in his secondhand pickup that he'd inherited when his Dad had gotten a new Bronco. An older man stepped out.

"Are you Andy?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," he answered politely.

"Miss Emily said you'd be coming over," the man said. "Now that I know what you drive, I won't stop you again."

"Thank you," he replied, unsure of what else he should say or do.

His discomfort grew as he rang the doorbell. Their front foyer was bigger than his whole house.

It seemed strange at first. Emily and Claire seemed to have it all living in the biggest house in town, but their parents were never home. They called their maid or butler or nanny for things that most kids called their parents for. It didn't take him long to see that he'd rather have a smaller house and his parents than live like Emily. Still, it did have its perks he thought as he walked up to the back gate.

Emily could tell Andy was upset when he got to her house. He didn't want to talk. He wasn't really interested in making out. He just wanted to hold her.

After a while, she quit trying to get through to him and just held him until his breathing evened out and he fell asleep. She reasoned that he was probably just worried about what his punishment would be and missing his upcoming tournament and wasn't too hurt. She turned off her lamp and slid down in the bed, pulling the blankets up over both of them. Her parents weren't home and Tempest would never check her room as long as she was downstairs in time for school in the morning, so there was no reason to wake him.

* * *

Please R and R.


End file.
